


Цветущий сад

by Salat



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: Boys In Love, Enemies to Lovers, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rivalry, i love you jean-marcel, stubborn Bernd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 10:30:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18497113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salat/pseuds/Salat
Summary: (russian title, english fic)Marc had known him for a really long time not to do this. Especially right in front of their teammates.Marc-Andre had been in love with Bernd Leno since he turned 21. And Julian fucking Draxler, looking at him with this ‘I know your little secret’ smirk, did something terrible to him.





	Цветущий сад

**Author's Note:**

> The title means 'The blooming garden'. It's russian because Bernd knows the language, and I'm russian as well hahaha
> 
> Special thanks to my beautiful friends Arina and Ira. Love you, darlings!
> 
> Sorry for possible mistakes, english isn't my first language :)

They had been rivals since his first call up to the U21 team. When it was the senior squad Berns was the third. The third fucking choice as a goalie right after obvious Manuel Neuer and Marc-Andre ter Stegen. 

Bernd was tired of being weaker than Marc, of being the fifth wheel of this team. The Confederation Cup was his chance to prove that he might be as good as Marc-Andre ter fucking Stegen. But when he conceded two against Australia it was over for him. He was sitting on the bench till the end of the tournament, watching Kevin and Marc-Andre playing, winning and celebrating. 

The last night they were in Jules’ (Draxler) room with beer and the cup and ended up playing ‘Truth or dare’. The first time Draxler as a captain dared Leon to call Max and he did it. Leon wanted to hear Max’s voice, he wanted to talk to him. They hadn’t seen each other since the start of the tournament. And Julian knew they were together. So Leon did it and went out of the game to talk to Max. 

“Goretzka! Chose the next one,” Julian said because he didn’t want the game to stop. 

“Kiss Kevin,” Leon answered, going to the balcony. 

“Wha-at? Why me?” Draxler asked, but Leon didn’t hear him. “Ok, then...”

“What are you waiting for, Jule?” Kevin was so drunk and teasing, but Julian wasn’t sharing the mood. At first he thought it would be easy to kiss Trapp, but that smile on Kevin’s face was frightening him to death. 

“Juleee, please,” Kevin said and the pleading tone of his voice didn't help. Draxler got closer to him and put a hand to his shoulder. “Do it”, Kevin whispered and Julian felt his warm breath. Kevin parted his lips and got Jule’s bottom in his teeth. Draxler gasped in shock, but the next second Kevin just pulled away and smiled to Julian nicely. 

“Who’s next?” Bernd asked impatiently. 

“What?” Julian said, still keeping his eyes on Kevin.

“Who’s next?” Leno repeated, smirking to the cap. 

“You,” said Jule. “Do the same”. 

“You want me to kiss Kevin? Okay,” the blonde keeper tried, but Draxler finally got away with his stupor. 

“No, kiss... Marc,” he announced and then got his eyes back to the PSG goalie. 

“What the fuck, Jule?!” no one expected the yell, but ter Stegen screamed, getting up to his feet. He was going to go out of the room, but Bernd’s next words stopped him. Bernd was as drunk as Kevin and got that frightening smile on his face too. So Marc turned to face him and tried not to look stupid. Because if Bernd Leno found out that Marc got scared it would be the biggest mistake of his life.

“Scared, ter Stegen?" but of course Leno did. "What of? Me, your fucking little shadow?”

Marc didn’t dare to react to that.

“You are pussy, Marc,” Bernd added. 

“No, I’m not,” Marc-André mumbled more to himself, looking right in other keeper’s eyes. 

“Oh my fucking god, get a room you two,” Kevin yelled.

“Shut up, Kevin,” both keepers said.

For Marc it was hard to look at Leno because Bernd was so... Bernd. Marc had known him for a really long time not to do this. Especially right in front of their teammates. 

Marc-Andre had been in love with Bernd Leno since he turned 21. And Julian fucking Draxler, looking at him with this ‘I know your little secret’ smirk, did something terrible to him.

This dare was humiliating because Bernd tried to laugh at him every time. Sometimes he took his chances, sometimes not. But this time Leno just got closer to Marc, cupping his face with palms. _Fuck_ , Marc thought, looking at other keeper’s eyes one more time and then closed his own. 

Bernd was surprisingly gentle with him. At first it was just a small touch, but then Marc opened his mouth, meeting Bernd’s tongue. It wasn’t as scaring as ter Stegen thought. Bernd was very slow and respectful, kissing Marc-André with passion but not with aggression. It surprised Marc and he wished it wasn’t just a dare but something that he could count as a kiss between two people who liked each other. 

But it didn’t last long because it was just a fucking dare. And because obviously Bernd didn’t like him back.

Leno bit his bottom lip unexpectedly and Marc moaned in the extremely silent room. Bernd licked Marc’s lips one last time and pulled away.

“It’s my turn now,” the Bayer keeper said. “And I dare...”

Marc didn’t bother to hear the rest. The game continued, but he stared at the window where Leon was still talking with Max at the balcony. Marc thought about the hope started raising after the kiss. Just because Bernd didn’t act like he did every time the Barça keeper thought it was something special. He dreamed that maybe they could get away with Bernd’s hate and his own hopeless feelings about the Bayer’s goalie and try to be... friends at least. 

Marc expected this as much as he wanted Bernd Leno to love him back. But he only could look at him at trainings when Bernd didn’t see him and just... yeah, dreamed about it.

 _No fucking chances_ , Marc thought, going to call it a night. He got up at the same time as Julian (Brandt) did, obviously to complete someone's stupid dare. Everyone in the room looked at Marc.

“What?” Marc tried to make his voice sound normal but failed. 

“Where are you going?” Leon returned from the balcony with the phone in his hand and a stupid smile on his face. 

“My room,” Marc answered simply. He didn’t want it to turn dramatic, but Leon completely misunderstood the situation. 

“What have you done, Leno?” Leon’s mood changed to the passive aggressive mode in a second. Marc wondered if anybody in the team knew he had a crash on Bernd. 

“Why do you think it’s always me?” Bernd, asking this, looked really hurt.

“Just because you two are always on each other throats?” Leroy joined the conversation for the first time. _And you too_ , Marc thought.

“Or may be just because you think you can pretend you are,” Draxler said, looking directly at Marc-Andre. 

“Oh for fuck's sake, Jule,” ter Stegen yelled, leaving the room. 

“So, you did this,” Leon said, not even pretending to make it a question. 

“Don’t look at me like this. Say you don’t know?” Drax complained. 

“I know just because it’s fucking obvious. But guess what? Not everybody wants their teammates – not even friends sometimes – to know this, ok?” Leon explained, but Bernd didn’t get a clue what the fuck had happened here. And why everyone in the room looked so tense. 

“And what do you want from me, Leon?” Julian asked sheepishly. “It’s up to Bernd to do something really helpful”. 

“Fuck, Jule. Marc would kill you,” Kevin patted his cap on the head with drunk smile. Lucky for ter Stegen he wasn’t able to hear it. 

“Definitely,” Leon agreed immediately.

“Can someone please explain to me what the hell had happened, huh?” Bernd pleaded. He was confused and really drunk to join up the dots. A simple answer and no hang over for tomorrow were all he asked for. He already had a big problem called sharing the room with ter Stegen. And he was lucky because when night was over he would go home. 

“Go and ask Marc, because no one – yeah Jule? – will tell you but him,” Leon said one last time and room went silent. “I’m not joking, go,” he added, leading Bernd to the door. 

Bernd had no choice to escape because Leon chaperoned him straightly to his and Marc’s room. The next thing he saw was ter Stegen in the bed, looking at the window frame. Bernd felt something he couldn’t detect as anger. It was a strange mix of fear and sympathy. Had the beer done something to him? Probably, because feeling sympathy to his biggest rival was very stupid and Bernd’s mind didn’t understand his heart at that moment. 

Bernd got closer to other keeper, fearing to ask Marc something Leon told him. Bernd had so many questions and couldn’t find that one to start with. But he didn’t have to, because Marc turned to look at him and Bayer goalie could see sadness in his gaze. 

“What are you doing here?” Marc whispered. 

“I don’t know”, Bernd copied the mood and whispered as Marc did. “Leon told me to ask you about…”

“About what?” Marc interrupted. It wasn’t the best time to bring that to the table and he really didn’t want to. 

“Your leaving”, Bernd settled down at the edge of his bed, mirroring Marc's pose and trying to busy his eyes with something. 

“And you really want to know?” ter Stegen asked. There was hope in his voice, but Bernd didn’t pay much attention to find out. 

“Not exactly,” he only could think about going home and returning to his normal life. And because of it he couldn’t hear tears in Marc voice when the other keeper ended the conversation with a simple ‘okay’. 

In the morning Bernd woke up, realizing that Marc wasn’t already in the room, so he just grabbed his luggage and got away from the hotel and his growing frustration. 

But unfortunately it followed him. 

Bernd needed literally 2 month to find out what had happened on the IB. Marc-Andre ter fucking Stegen was in love with him. What a dork. But surprisingly it didn’t feel wrong. 

At training Bernd caught Julian by his arm to prove his guess. 

“Does ter Stegen have a crush on me?” he asked. Brandt tried to make a surprised face at first, but failed. Bernd looked at his friend with something in his gaze that made Julian feel sorry. These two were total disasters. 

And obviously for everyone but them were in love with each other. 

“You should ask him. Really, Bernd. All we know is that he feels something about you. But is it love at all? I dunno,” Julian replied, going straight to Kai. Bernd watched them laughing together and thought about his counterpart. 

After training he got his phone in his hand, staring at the empty message page with ‘MAtS’ in the contact line, but he didn’t feel right about that. Bernd had refused to text several times until Julian said to him that ter Stegen would come to his parents’ anniversary. He would be in Gladbach which wasn’t far away from Leverkusen. 

Julian almost made him text Marc. Firstly because he saw that Bernd had so much on his mind to postpone it literally until the next call up or, may be, the next decade. And because Julian knew that Bernd tried to protect his heart from being broken. Despite everything that had happened and Marc’s strange behavior Bernd still thought that it could be a joke. 

But it defiantly wasn’t. 

So thanks to Julian, Bernd texted Marc to ask him out, because he was the old fashioned type, liked to talk face to face. He had been regretting every second that he drove to Gladbach, but that moment when he finally saw the other keeper and his smile was worth it. 

It was the end of august, but Marc standing near his parents' house door in the middle of the blooming garden was like a bride at the end of the church aisle. Bernd went to him, trying to find the right words. Again.

“You love me,” he said without doubts in his voice. 

“Yes,” Marc wanted to kiss him so badly, but he had to ask something first. “Do you want to punch me?” 

“Yeah, I want,” Bernd said, but instead of it he looked at the Barça keeper with a weak but happy smile. Marc’s cheeks turned as red as Bernd’s second kit. “I want,” Leno repeated, holding his gaze at Marc. “But the main thing I want is to kiss you”.

Marc-Andre almost gasped when he felt Bernd’s lips against his own. Again. Marc got overwhelmed because of the tension between them, bubbling with new power. He had his hands on Bayer keeper’s shoulders, trying to catch the moment. 

Bernd Leno liked him back, what a stupid thing to wish but Marc couldn’t help it. At that second he felt the world in his hands and it was Bernd — his goalie twin, his main rival and the most desirable person in his life. At least for Marc. 

“Do you love me?” Marc asked when they had separated, hiding his face in Bernd’s neck. He already wanted more, thinking about how to tell his parents about them, how to make Bernd stay with him for a while. 

“I like you,” Bernd found out that it wasn’t hard to say. “A lot,” he added, lifted Marc’s chin to look in his eyes. Oh fuck, _these eyes_. 

They had stayed like this — hugging, kissing, holding hands and looking at each other — until Marc’s brother found them.

“Oh... is it? My little Marc finally got his love!” 

“Fuck you, Jean-Marcel!” Marc frowned, sending an apologetic look to Bernd. 

“So rude, Marc! That’s not the way our parents taught you,” his brother said. “Sorry for him. Sometimes I think he has been raised by wolves. I’m Jean-Marcel, by the way”. 

“The most annoying older brother in the world,” Marc added with a sarcastic smirk. 

“I’m Bernd”. 

“I know who you are. Not because of your team, but because of the Marc’s inability to keep his mouth shut about you. I mean our parents have a bet on you two,” Jean-Marcel laughed at Marc’s reaction. “And mum has won, I think”. 

“Oh my god,” Marc choked. “Please, get me out of this”.

“Do you think it’s too much light for sex?” Marc’s brother just got his pleasure to mock him.

“Stop it. Now,” Marc cut him off. 

“Oka-ay. Just don’t do it here. And let Bernd say ‘Hi’ to mum,” Jean said, disappearing in the house. 

“Sorry for him,” Marc looked at Bernd, checking if he already wanted to run away. 

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” the other keeper pressed a kiss at Marc’s forehead. “And I’d like to greet your family”. 

After this Marc hardly could hold tears because it was all he wanted — some stubborn Bayer keeper by his side with the heart full of love.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it  
> I'd really love to read your comments
> 
> [tumblr](http://salat-enot.tumblr.com/)


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